Poetry Is One That Is

¶ … poetry is one that is made up of countless flairs and structures allowing for a genre of work that is both broad and stylistically complex. However, there is one element of poetry that opens up the door for comparison between works that would likely never be placed beside each other, and that element is the theme.

Thematic connectivity can be seen in looking at several famous poems: "Sindhi Woman," by Jon Stallworthy, "Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer's Day," by William Shakespeare, "What Is It That Compels?" By Ezra Tompkins, and "To See the World In a Grain of Sand," by William Blake. Though each of these works contains a range of similarities and differences, one can see highly themes connecting them all stemming from the complexity of the human condition.

"Sindhi Woman," by Jon Stallworthy reflects highly on the themes of personal grace and perseverance. The poem focuses on a woman living in the slums of Pakistan who goes about the business of the day regardless of the poverty and distress that lies around her. The poem, though short, provides vivid details that allow the reader to read much further into the life of the woman pictured.

The woman at hand is seemingly making her way through the town or slum in which she lives in order to bring a jug of water back to her family. The jug, which she carries upon her head, does not hinder her physically, and neither do the "stones, garbage, excrement, and crumbs of class" upon which she walks (Stallworthy, 22).

In briefly describing the physical burdens placed upon this woman within the poem, the reader is able to delve more deeply in to assuming what this woman's entire life has been like. It can be assumed that the burdens described within the poem symbolize a much broader and emotionally-devastating set of burdens that this woman has dealt with throughout her life, through all of which she has remained strong.

While the reader can assume that these issues may center upon poverty and life within a slum in Pakistan, in putting the poem into a broader context, this burden then expands. Only then can the reader understand the true weight of the water jug upon this woman's head. The woman in the poem has lived through poverty, violence, physical strife, gender inequality, and a world of duty and expectation placed upon her.

Stallworthy describes the woman's "undulant grace" as she "glides" through the streets despite the weight upon her, and the reader can understand that this grace extends much further into this woman's life. The narrator of the poem reflects on the strength of the woman, standing strong and holding her head high with the notation: "they stand most straight who learn to walk beneath a weight" (Stallworthy, 22).

The narrator, and likely others who witness the woman described see a woman who has not been broken down by the difficult life she has led, and in holding her head high, she has become a model of grace in a world of disarray and hardship. William Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" is one of the most widely-known love poems of all time.

The presentation and words within the poem is exceedingly straightforward in its goal, which is to explain the depths of the speaker's love for the poem's intended reader. The poem reflects the themes of undying love, consistence and timelessness. The speaker begins describing his love as compared to a series of some of the most beautiful things that are present in the world he lives in. Beginning with his description of an ideal summer's day, he notes that his love is both "more lovely and more temperate" (Shakespeare, 13).

In taking the description of the perfect summer day, the speaker is noting that even this perfection cannot live up to the perfection that is his love. As if being more true to the definition of perfection than a summer's day is not enough of a compliment, the speaker goes on to describe his love as being incapable of changing in beauty and therefore completely timeless. Though the reader understands that this is impossible as the beauty of youth cannot last forever, Shakespeare makes a point to remedy this.

The speaker in the poem notes that his love's timelessness will be ensured through his actions of writing about her. No matter what happens to either of them through the course of their own lives, the beauty of the woman being written about and love that existed at the moment of the poem's writing will be carried unaltered through the ages to come -- which has proven true for centuries.

Ezra Tompkins' poem, "What is it that Compels," focuses on the themes of love, death, and the fleetingness of human existence. The poem centers upon the speaker after the death of his father and his observance of the way his mother is handling the death of her husband. Tompkins' poem deals with the hardships that come when one loses a spouse, as the two individuals lives have melded into one, essentially connecting two individuals into one of the most close-knit and connected relationships that can exist.

The speaker in this poem, however, is not part of this relationship directly, but as the son, makes up a branch of the relationship created by his parents. In looking at the entirety of the situation from an outsider's perspective, the speaker is able to pick up on every single detail of his surroundings, providing for imagery that further explains the situation. The speaker notes the "feeling of being a spectator at a private screening," because in looking at his mother's mourning, even he feels like an outsider (Tompkins 43).

Similarly to Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day," Tompkins works to describe the complexity and intensity that love can bring, therefore describing how the loss of that love can affect an individual. William Blake's "To See the World in a Grain of Sand," focuses on the themes of age and perception.

Blake begins: "To see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour," which describes so much in such vivid imagery and language (Blake, 80). This seemingly represents the perception of things humans cannot fully explain. How humanity.